Friday, May 31, 2013

Grub Bistro at Bishan Park!

It's not very often that I get to do brunch on Sundays, but who doesn't enjoy a long meal over delicious food and great companionship? Especially when you're surrounded by greenery and lovely garden landscapes, right smack in the middle of Bishan Park.. With the idyllic and beautiful surroundings, it almost feels like you've left the hustle and bustle of Singapore, which is a much-needed escape.

Welcome to GRUB, the newest kid on the block in my neighborhood.. It's at times like this that I feel exceptionally blessed to live just a short 7 minute drive away from Bishan Park! Yay.

I am ashamed to admit that despite staying so near to Bishan Park, I still got lost on my way to Grub =_= Oh and apparently it's Bishan-Ang Mo Kio Park.. and it's divided by Marymount Road into two plots of land.

To get to GRUB, you need to get to Marymount Road, and then make a right turn to Sin Ming Avenue! It is not located at the same area as Canopy/McDonalds/Aramsa Spa, so please don't park your car at the wrong car park by mistake. It's quite a long way off!

I don't know about you, but when I see the word "grub", I immediately think of Timon and Pumba from The Lion King! HAHA. This is what childhood cartoons do to you.

Back to GRUB the bistro/restaurant... We arrived there at around 11-ish on a Sunday morning, and the place was already packed full!! Had to wait around 15-20 minutes for a table.. I arrived late because of the getting lost bit, so my awesome friends CJM and SF had to do the waiting hahaha oops. Sorry guys!!

Anyway, they don't take reservations at GRUB, so you should probably go earlier to grab a table before the brunch crowd starts streaming in!

We got seated right in front of the feature wall, quite a lovely spot!

Brunch partners.. It was a double date! :D I'm very guilty of neglecting my friends because I have so many other commitments.. :( Thank God for the wonderful friends that still bother to bug me to go out with them. Hehe. So I was glad that we managed to make time this Sunday morning for a meal together! Plus I've been telling YZ he needs to get out more often instead of just work/family/me.

“At GRUB, we believe in eating responsibly. This means cooking with as natural ingredients as possible, without the addition of MSG, artificial preservatives, additives or flavourings. We also believe that responsible eating starts with good practices by the farmers, fishermen and artisanal producers that we work with.”

GRUB's motto: food that you'd serve your own family! Sounded very promising already, and I was rather excited after reading the many rave reviews on their food!

The food took another 15-20 minutes to start arriving, and then of course we had to spend the next 10-15 minutes taking pictures. Hahahah. We ordered four different courses for everyone, so that we could try more items on the menu!

To be frank, I was quite disappointed with the Grub Breakfast Set.. :( We had asked for the pork sausage, but was later told that the pork sausage was OOS so we had to settle for the beef patty instead.

The flavour and texture of the patty was actually pretty good, but someone must have been extremely heavy-handed with the salt shaker that day, because the beef patty was super ultra salty :( And that's coming from ME, the sodium addict.

Added to that, the scrambled eggs were bland and nothing impressive, while the portebello mushroom was too oily to suit my taste.

Crispy Fish Burger $11
- crumbled hake fish, remoulade

Thankfully, the other three dishes made up for my initial disappointment.. The Crispy Fish Burger was really cute, it was basically a Fish & Chips masquerading as a burger hehe! Look at that funny sight!

The fish fillet was delicious, it was crisp on the outside and flaky soft on the inside! Well-seasoned and went perfectly with the sauces provided. The accompanying fries, however, must have suffered the same fate as the beef patty, because they were exceedingly salty ;( They would have tasted great if not for that!

Beef & Guinness Pie $12
- mash, side salad

For myself, I struggled and deliberated between all the choices on the menu for a really long time, before finally deciding on the Beef & Guinness Pie, which was initally my top choice! Happy to say, this pie did not fail me at all and I loved it so much!

It does not quite look like a regular pie, and is more of a thick beefy stew laden atop a flaky pie crust, and I thought it was utterly delicious! The pie crust soaked up the thick savory sauces, and the chunks of soft beef, onions and baby carrots were ultra flavorful and oh-so-good! On top of that, it came with a smooth buttery mash that was super yummy. Instant addiction. Giving it two thumbs up!!

YZ's GRUB Cheeseburger fortunately did not suffer the same fate as the beef patty from the breakfast set, the beef patty in this was well-seasoned, juicy and tender, without that unappetizing dry/crumbly taste you get with badly done beef patties. It wasn't huge, but the patty was thick and firm, so that was great :D With the fresh crunchy lettuce and melted Monterey Jack cheese, I thought it was one of the better cheeseburgers I've had!

The fries too, were apparently from the same (sodium-overladen) batch though.. Too salty again. Meh.

Despite my grievances over the over-saltiness and rather disappointing breakfast set, I still enjoyed the other dishes very much! Especially that Beef & Guinness Pie... *drools*

Ordered a Churros to share after we finished our main courses, because we were all surprisingly stuffed.. I wasn't expecting to be so full! D:

Churros $8
- dark chocolate, tangy creme anglaise

The churros came piping hot and fresh, and they was soft and fluffy on the inside, with a crisp outer layer. We demolished it in minutes!! I personally prefer the churros at Max Brenner's because they somehow feel firmer and more substantial, but I think it's a matter of personal preference because some people like it fluffier! Nonetheless, not many places in Singapore serve churros, which is a pity, cos I really like yummy churros!

Dipped in dark chocolate sauce. Om nom nom.

Random selfie! :D I was honestly more interested in the food than taking pictures ahaha.

YZ and myself.. Proper date-time has been few and far between lately because we're so comfortable with each other, we hardly bother! I suppose that's a good thing! But well, I do appreciate him taking the effort to spend time outside with me, and with my friends too! It's little efforts like this that count. ❤

And with CJM! Conversations with this straight-forward and no-nonsense girl are always a joy, I know I don't have to mince my words around her. That's probably why we get along so well: because we are so alike? Hehe. Plus, CJM is a good influence on YZ *winks* Thanks for sticking around, my dear!

The beautiful view from right outside GRUB! Bishan Park is indeed a gorgeous place! And the next time, maybe I'll bring my dogs along to GRUB too :D They allow pets in their outdoor sitting area! Pretty awesome.

All in all, it was a pleasant experience at GRUB and I'm sure I'll be back again!

This is a fresh-in piece and I love it to pieces already. Ultra-flattering cut with peek-a-boo cut-outs at the waist that's mad nice!

Here's a close-up of the cut-out details!

PS. There's also a pinstripes version that's already available on our Kissjane racks at CityLink and Bugis! Lots of other new stocks in the weekend too, go check em out if you're in the area, kay? ;D

***

Looking forward to the weekend.. cos I'll be at ELLE Girls’ Day Out with Darlie Expert White: my favourite toothpaste! I never used to have a preference for toothpaste, but ever since I started using Darlie Expert White, it's the only toothpaste I use! And many of my friends agree with me too ever since I recommended them to use Darlie Expert White! Heheh.

ELLE Girls’ Day Out will be happening at Loola's, #02-14 Esplanade, 8 Raffles Avenue, from 2pm – 4.30pm! (Event is pre-registered, so if you are one of the registered workshop participants, see ya there!!) :D

Yina says hi

Welcome to my blog! My name is Yina Goh, and I own online boutique The Velvet Dolls. I'm passionate about travel, fashion, food, beauty and music. I love photography and taking photos to document my everyday!

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